On 18 December 2004, when authorities were about to seize the 1,387
kilos of cocaine that would be shipped by a drug trafficking network
directed by Quirino Ernesto Paulino Castillo, people involved in the
investigation warned him that he had been uncovered by the National
Drug Control Department (DNCD), according to Listin Diario. District
Attorney Jose Manuel Hernandez Peguero stated such was the level of
complicity and protection that the organization had in political,
military and police circles. Former army captain Paulino Castillo
received a call through one of the multiple cell phones he used
informing that “the wheels are returning with a person I know”. The
call was from one of the people in charge of protecting the drug
several hours earlier when it was shipped to a free zone in Santiago
and meant that DNCD agents had intercepted the truck containing the
cocaine. The informer managed to escape in a white car. Quirino was
being closely watched since 31 March 2003 when authorities intercepted
a call with Samuel Eduardo Rodriguez Cordero (Eduardito) saying “Look
at page seven of El Nacional, all my eggs have broken”. The story in
that paper was about the seizure of several kilos of cocaine from the
DR that had been caught in Puerto Rico.